The National Iranian Offshore Oil Company has announced plans to begin the development of six new offshore natural gas fields in the Persian Gulf, whose reserves are estimated at 25.7 trillion cubic feet.
Iran's natural gas reserves are estimated to be the world's second largest, exceeded only by those in the Russian Federation.
The natural gas fields, which include the Lavan, Resalat, Reshadat, Salman, Kangan, Hamoun and Gorzin sites, are expected to produce about 10 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day when fully online, Press TV reported.
The new sites are adjacent to the Persian Gulf's giant South Pars gas field, which is jointly shared by Iran and Qatar. South Pars is estimated to contain about 14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, roughly eight percent of the current total world reserves. Iran has divided South Pars into 24 phases of development. According to Iran's Pars Oil and Gas Company managing director Mousa Souri, all phases of the giant South Pars gas field will go on stream by 2015.
The National Iranian Offshore Oil Company estimates that the output of the new six fields will be equivalent to the South Pars natural gas field development phases 9 and 10.
By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com
Charles is a writer for Oilprice.com More